VM on Windows 7 Virtual PC cannot access host’s DVD Drive

Here is what I have found out for those that come after.

This error was due to doing the following:

• Installing Windows Server 2008
• Upgrading to Windows Server 2008 R2
• Installing SCVMM
• Trying to Uninstall SCVMM

Sean Earp worked as an intermediary between me and the developers of SCVMM (thanks Sean). They told me that the upgrading of Windows Server 2008 to Windows Server 2008 R2 and then using SCVMM is not supported. (I imagine it will be supported with SCVMM R2). They said there is a way to manually undo the problem, but that it was fairly intensive. I opted to just wipe the drive.

After further searching with various keywords combinations, I came across this article:

The key phrase is:

You can map a shared folder to a drive letter just as you would with a network share.

How to get your "other" drive to appear with the proper letter -

1. From the VMWare Player menu: VM / Settings / Options Tab / Shared Folders.
2. Click Add and enter the drive lettter (D:) as the host path. Enable the share.
3. From a Windows Explorer Window in the guest OS, map the desired drive letter to the VMWare share. It will appear in the Network tree as a new level called "VMware Shared Folders" below "Microsoft Windows Network".